Imposter Syndrome

Law school has this funny tendency to make you feel like an imposter. You may be experiencing it right now, as you tell people your plans for next year and they suddenly treat you with respect and admiration, which if you're anything like me you're really not used to as you did an undergrad that forced you to join the "I picked a major I like and one day I will live in a cardboard box" group on facebook. You may counter with, "Well, I did really well on my LSAT score" or "I had high enough undergrad grades to compensate my horrible LSAT score" or "My parents wanted me to go." The amount of respect that I received when I told people I was going to Law School versus the amount of respect I got by telling people I was working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts was palpable.

Enjoy it right now. Soak it in along with this beautiful West Coast Sunshine (if you're lucky enough to be in Vancouver for the summer). Because from the day you start law school onward, people are going to assume that you are a lawyer. I've had family friends ask me about a clause in their will, another tell me about the horrible conditions in their mother's nursing home and ask how we could sue them and people ask me for advice about the rental of a two million dollar building. The best advice I could give any of these people is to go and get real legal help. I know nothing. All I know after my first year of law school (never mind after my first month) is that I really and truly know nothing.

The great, albeit shocking part of UBC Law is that from around the third week of school forward, we UBC Law students get the chance to play lawyer. Law Students Legal Advice Program is a non-profit student run group with which approximately one third of the law school is involved. You'll learn all about it during Orientation Week and I highly recommend that everyone join, as there is no better way to start learning something. It involves helping low-income clients access the legal system and some students have even ended up going to court within their first few months of law school! But don't worry--court isn't mandatory. If you don't want to go you can pass the file off to someone who does, and trust me, there will be many, many of us who do. And the advice that you'll be doling out...it comes directly from our real and fabulous supervising lawyers' mouths!

So for now, enjoy the feeling of admiration from your friends and family which will quickly turn into legal neediness from the moment that you step into this building. If you have questions about LSLAP, Orientation Week or anything else be sure to email me at orientation@law.ubc.ca or give me a call at (604) 827-3552.